Testimony of Healing January 25, 1913 Issue

It is not long since the healing truth taught in Christian Science...

Lillian B. Mann

It is not long since the healing truth taught in Christian Science unlocked my prison door and made me free, and what this has meant to me words can never tell. From a little girl I never knew what it was to be well. I was always ailing, and as I grew up my ailments increased with each year, so that I had to give up my studies entirely the second year at high school, and also the one ambition of my life at that time, graduation.

A year later I went East to school, in the hope that the change would help me, but again I had to give it up. I was ill for many weeks, and the doctor who was attending me said he could do no more for me. Another doctor was called, and he advised an operation. This was performed, and for a while I was better and able to go home; but I suffered greatly with my back and pain in my limbs, and walking at times was a hardship. The doctor said I was going into a decline and would never be well. After I was married I tried another doctor, and he said I had spinal trouble. For some time I had electric treatments, but I kept getting worse and the pain more severe. I was an invalid after the birth of my son, and another operation was performed. Still I was no better, and had one ailment after another until I experienced nervous collapse, which left my eyes in such a condition that it was necessary for me to go to a specialist, who said I would always have to wear glasses. That summer I had to be taken to the hospital and operated on again, and this time I was to be a well woman; but it was the same old story of "no better," and I again went East, hoping that change of scene would help me. I returned in April, believing that it was only to die, for eight doctors had failed to help me and my strength was almost gone. The doctor said he could do no more for me, and that if my heart held out, my spine was diseased, nerves shattered, and I was indeed a wreck. I took to bed, and became so weak that I could not feed myself and was taking wine for nourishment.

On the morning of May 29, 1911, the nurse came to me with a copy of the Christian Science Sentinel, saying a neighbor had sent it to me and that on the cover was the telephone number of a practitioner. The nurse read some of it to me, then I asked her to give me the paper, and after reading a while I asked her to call up the practitioner and have her come to see me. The doctor came at twelve, shook his head and left. An hour later the practitioner came, and she brought with her such a flood of divine Love that I was lifted from depths of misery to heights of joy. She left me about three, and immediately I asked for my clothes, got up and dressed and walked, free, with not a sense of anything but perfect health! At night I had dinner with the family, the first meal I had eaten for months. It was indeed a time of rejoicing, and our home was turned from sorrow into joy. The next day I went about my usual duties, and have ever since. No one can realize what it meant to me to be able to walk perfectly, for I had been lame for nearly seven years. Oh, the joy to know God and feel the warmth of His wondrous love, and to have such peace—peace which the world cannot give.

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